Their project, in response to the RFA http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-MH-16-750.html, will dissect the neuronal and astrocytic compartment of the BOLD signal using cutting-edge fMRI techniques.

Collaboration between the UNC School of Medicine and the University of Minnesota aims to provide scientists with breakthrough information about how the human brain develops from birth through early childhood.

The Pitt Hopkins Research foundation awarded its first ever gene therapy grant to Drs. Ben Philpot & Steve Gray, who are are collaborating on a project to investigate the feasibility of a gene therapy approach for Pitt-Hopkins syndrome (PTHS).

On August 31st, Dr. Kellen Hassell began a 1,000 mile cycling journey from Miami, Florida to the Angelman Syndrome Clinic at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Hassell, a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing and Health Sciences at the Florida International University, rode to raise awareness and funds for Angelman syndrome research at UNC.

In the journal Neuron, Ben Philpot, PhD, professor of cell biology and physiology, published his lab’s research analyzing the spatial determinants for UBE3A loss in the development of seizures and other hyperexcitability phenotypes in the brain

The study shows how a class of commonly used fungicides, designed to protect crops, can cause gene expression changes in mouse brain cells that look strikingly similar to changes in the brains of people with autism and Alzheimer’s disease.

Jason Yi, PhD, a postdoc in the Zylka lab was selected as a finalist for the SFARI Bridge to Independence Award for his proposed research project, "Inhibitory circuit dysfunction in autism spectrum disorder".

In a paper published in Nature Communications, Janet Berrios, a graduate student in the Philpot lab, discovered that the loss of UBE3A decreases the release of the GABA neurotransmitter and alters reward-seeking behavior in an important neural pathway once presumed to be principally regulated by the dopamine neurotransmitter.

The UNC School of Medicine has awarded the 16th Perl-UNC Prize to Christopher A. Walsh, MD, PhD, Chief of the Division of Genetics and Genomics at Boston Children’s Hospital and Bullard Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology at Harvard Medical School, for the “discovery of genes and mechanisms regulating human cortical development.”

Mark Zylka, PhD, will serve as director and Ben Philpot, PhD, will serve as associate director of the UNC Neuroscience Center at the UNC School of Medicine, effective July 1. William Snider, MD, who has served as the center’s director for nearly 17 years, will step down from his leadership role, but will remain on faculty as professor of neurology, while also continuing his research.

In a paper published in Cell Reports, Vijay Swahari, a postdoctoral fellow in Deshmukh lab, identifies how the critical role of Dicer in DNA damage response can be exploited for therapy in aggressive brain tumors like Medulloblastoma.

Spencer Smith developed a new microscope which can simultaneously view individual neurons firing in two or more brain regions of a moving laboratory animal, enabling researchers to see how different areas of the brain work together to process information.

In a paper published in Cell Host and Microbe, Anna Cliffe, a postdoctoral fellow in Deshmukh lab, identifies how activation of JNK in response to neuronal stress triggers changes to the HSV chromatin and reactivation from latency.

The 16th Annual UNC Neuroscience Symposium was held on October 8th at the Carolina Club. Attendees from the UNC Neuroscience community enjoyed a breakfast reception with the speakers, Joseph G. Gleeson, Yang Dan and Alcino Silva, three riveting talks followed by question-and-answer sessions, and a buffet luncheon at the conclusion.